Woman gets arrested for DWI, released, arrested for DWI again

A French policeman uses an electronic breathalyzer on a driver arrested for speeding in July. (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images)

A Poughkeepsie, N.Y. woman was arrested twice on New Year's morning and charged both times with drunken driving and related offenses, state police said.

At 3:09 a.m. Wednesday, Imani L. Salaam, 20, was stopped by state police for driving north in a southbound lane on U.S. 9 West. She was found to be intoxicated, according to Sgt. Scott Sisco, and was charged with misdemeanor drunken driving and driving with a blood-alcohol content exceeding 0.08 percent, along with failing to stay in her lane, an infraction.

Salaam was then released to a “responsible third party,” according to Sisco.

Less than an hour and a half later, Salaam was seen driving another vehicle and again failing to stay in her lane lane on the same stretch of highway, Sisco said. She was charged with the same crimes as in her first stop, and she and her passenger, Tinea S. Sterling, 21, of Lagrangeville, N.Y., were charged with the misdemeanors of obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest.

Sterling was also charged with disorderly conduct for obstructing traffic, and with harassment with physical contact for “swinging at police” on the side of the road, Sisco said.

Salaam was sent to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $750 bail. Sterling was jailed in lieu of $500 bail, Sisco said.